When looking at UI/UX scenario 10 years back, motion and animation both were quite basic as well as a novel idea to deal with. The terms were more associated with websites there were quite flashy with a plethora of blinking buttons, and popups jumping everywhere. But the kind of development we have seen in recent years, it is far more safely to say that animation has become more of a dynamic affair. Not just that but animation is rapidly becoming a vital part of designing an interface. More importantly, with animation, designers have got a huge advantage playing around with time.
Today, animation is no more a series of static screens, but a bridge filling the gap between human as well as machine interaction. The most delightful experiences are the ones that are intuitive enough for motion design. As of now, we will be discussing how you can add beauty to the app, leading to delightfully alive apps.
Have the entire experience of loading extremely enjoyable
When you have apps opening up with stimulating animations, there is a level of excitement coming to the face of users as they instantly see them. However, some animations go beyond the usual stuff, influencing the overall eye control, in turn allowing users to focus at a specific place.
Let us take Uber as an example, which displays wonderful animation to prove this point. As soon as you open up the app, the animated dot falls from the ceiling to the floor, resulting in the floor getting converted into a map, and drop converting into pin, to start locating taxis.
Engaging content can appeal visually during app onboarding
Whenever users interact with your app for the very first time, they need to understand the app full fledgedly, making the onboarding process flawless enough, leading to a smooth app comprehension. Good animations always result in ultra smooth transitions, leaving a long lasting impact on how users engage with the app.
Looking at the Tile app, it is simply amazing to see how beautiful animation can have a memorable impact explaining the app in an organized manner, through a highly appealing microcopy and visual design that is simply engrossing.
Opt for interactive tips integration guiding on every front
Representing short stories in form of animated interactive tips is capable enough for showcasing all the features within the app. This leads to a clear understanding of what should be done next.
Orientation has to be visually appealing
There are certain places wherein animated moments can be life changing. As soon as a state changes, it is necessary to understand how the next state is related to the previous one. So, have visually appealing transition making it visually impactful to connect between the two.
No contextuality as such is provided by a static design
When you establish content based relationship as well as connections, only then the animation is pretty much helpful, whether seen from a stylish perspective or a functional perspective. Such animated transitions work as a bridge between different states of UI, helping in orienting users in a right manner. Animation plays a major role in orienting people within the interface, so that the element motion is studies for understand the relations between two states.
Let the relationship between elements explained clearly
When an animated transition is well designed, the user eyes are directed to wherever they are meant to be, making the whole interaction alive. The emphasis on right elements can be done easily through animation, depending on the objective. Instant Crush is an app signifying how both the buttons are linked, making one button controlling the existence of another, with one making another visible.
Awareness by means of interfaces those are spatial
Animation helps in building metal maps leading to spatial interfaces. This whole process explains where things come from and where they go. An app like Physical Waster helps in orienting the interface with the people, so that they can play around with ease.
Let the clarity be brought in feedback
Animation helps in reinforcing actions at the time when is performed by users. A user interaction demonstrates animated feedback, no matter whether successful or not.
Indicating the entire problem into visual manner
Thinking about error states, you have to make things very much obvious to users. When considering the Password Shake example, what you have is a simplified head shake with a crystal clear feedback, relating to the number of people exchanging feedback with each other. Hence, as you can see in the app, it is better to have an animated feedback rather than too many layers clubbed over one another.
Users need to be reassured every single time
Animation plays a big role in helping people visualize what the results have to be after actions performed. When you have the principle of “show, do not tell” followed, an animated feedback helps in showing what is to be accomplished. As seen in Stripe’s example, as soon as the user clicks on “Pay”, a spinner appears displaying the success state. Such type of checkmark animation helps in stating success associated with payment backed by important details.
Logic is the key to an animated state
Logic is the most part of an animation. You need to ensure that the logic applies to environment as well. Especially it is important when you have to take care of smaller screens, wherein the real estate is astoundingly limited, increasing complexities greatly.
Hence, it is important to have your animation purposeful as well as logical. When animation is accompanied by interactions that are unpredictable, it can kill UX altogether, making things too confusing to deal with, while executing everything technically well. People already decide in their minds what gestures have to be welcomed and which ones not. Hence, inconsistent behavior of elements could really lead to extremely bad UX impact.
Conclusion
Animation nowadays is used widely across contexts and scales, leading to both versatile features, as well as beauty of the design. However, animation targeted deliberately can lead users to think on how to make the app cool enough, providing users with a memorable experience.
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